So, you’re thinking of going to a Net game? Here’s a better idea. Take a $50 bill. Go out into the yard. Douse it with kerosene. Strike a match. It would be far less aggravating.

There have been other losses and there will be more to follow. But few will match the indignity of the 101-92 defeat the Nets suffered to the Celtics last night at the Meadowlands, the sixth straight defeat for the Nets who looked clueless in the endgame.

“I don’t know what we do next,” said Kendall Gill, who contributed eight rebounds but just five points in a foul-plagued 25 minutes. “I just don’t know.”

The Celtics (6-5) were coming off their game in Boston against the Knicks while the Nets (2-10, the worst record in the East and second only to the winless Clippers) had been off for two days. But it looked as though the situations were reversed. And the game looked strikingly familiar. Again, the Nets collapsed in the stretch as the Celtics, behind rookie Paul Pierce (21 points) and third-year stud Antoine Walker (game-high 28 points, 11 rebounds), riddled New Jersey with a 12-2 run in a 3:08 stretch that ended with 1:40 left and the Nets down, 91-82. The run began at 4:48 and saw Boston outscore New Jersey, 22-12, to the end.

And they get the Celtics in Boston tomorrow. Oh joy.

Now, let’s review how that ping-pong ball procedure works in the lottery once again…

“I’ve tried to come up with answers for five games. Tonight, I don’t have any,” said an exasperated Keith Van Horn, who led the .362-shooting Nets with 22 points . “We get a lead and don’t hold it. In certain instances we’re not playing to progress. We try not to go backwards instead of continuing to do what got us there.”

When Walker ended that huge stretch with a 3-point shot, the Nets scurried to a time out, the Celtics celebrated with arms upraised and fans fled the building in disgust. Over the PA system, the song, “The Heat is On” blared. And no one is feeling the heat more than John Calipari, whose security must come under question. Managing owner Lewis Katz gave him a vote of confidence on Friday, but if this plunge continues, all bets must be off. You can’t fire a team, remember.

“How many layups did we miss tonight? Is that because they’re not responding to me? I don’t think so. We’re just not making the plays we can make,” Calipari said. “Now we’ve got to go back and keep them positive that we can do this. It’s getting to Never-Never Land.”

What does he mean, “getting to?” The season is now one-fourth over. Only the Clippers are more wretched. Sam Cassell is still out and revealed he’s likely out at least 10 more days. The losses are mounting and mounting. And nine of the next 12 games are on the road where they are 0-6. And they’re not too much better at home.

After blowing that 14-point lead, the Nets entered the fourth quarter in a 69-69 knot with the Celtics. That Walker-Pierce run gave the Celtics their cushion and made everyone wonder what the heck GMs and talent evaluators were thinking in last June’s draft.

No one was more stunned than Rick Pitino at the draft last June when Pierce, the Kansas All-America, was sitting there at No. 10. Pitino said he had penciled in Pierce going at No. 2. What does he like about Pierce?

“Everything. It’s his balance. It’s not one thing he does. He does everything,” Pitino stressed of Pierce, who also gabbed seven rebounds and passed for five assists. “He’s a great scorer. He blocks shots, he anticipates great defensively, he shoots the three, he gets out on the break.”

He did it all against the Nets last night. But hope, however bleak, remained even after the Walker triple. The Nets were playing score-and-foul and keep praying. With 1:24 left, Kerry Kittles, whose shooting woes continued in a 6-of-17 game, drove and drew a foul to get the Nets within 92-86. Kittles missed the free throw, but the Nets got the ball. Jayson Williams (seven points, 14 rebounds), ill with a cold yet still so much a reason for the early surge, missed a gimme underneath that led to a fastbreak score for Boston. Ladies and gentlemen, please drive home safely…

“A bad break. But the breaks haven’t been going our way,” Williams sighed. “We should be able to win at home. I’m tired of playing hard and not coming up with a win.”